In the U.S. timetables for bus lines and some transit operations are called schedules instead. In some large cities, such as London and New York, some rapid transit and urban bus services that run to a timetable are so frequent that consulting the timetable is unnecessary. In some cases public transport operators do not even publish public timetables for the times of day that their services are very frequent, or they may simply state services run every 3-5 minutes' (or words to that effect).

The first railway timetable compilation was published in 1839 by George Bradshaw. In many modern public transport systems, timetables and rostering are designed by computer, with the operators specifying operating span, minimum frequencies, route length/time and other such factors. Design of the schedule may also aim to keep times memorable for customers, through the use of clockface timetabling a services departing at regular intervals, at the same times every hour.

A timetable or schedule is an organized list, usually set out in tabular form, providing information about a series of arranged events: in particular, the time at which it is planned these events will take place. Dynamic displays in stations may be at a central place and list the next few departures for each line, or all departures for the next hour. Displays on platforms just show the next departure (or perhaps the next few) from that platform.

There are three main kinds of stops: In Scheduled stop: The bus uses the stop irrespective of demand. This can be done to simply avoid confusion, or to ensure correct running to the timetable, Request or flag stop: The bus will only stop to allow boarding or alighting if requested. Hail and Ride stop: Stops may also exist in hail and ride route sections, or stops may only be called at to set down a passenger at their request.

Like most buses run by Uno, the 614 started off as a feeder service for the University of Hertfordshire campuses, although all-day operation came at quite an early stage. Full Monday to Friday operation commenced with the 2001-2002 timetables, with the annual timetable change in the summer (usually after the August bank holiday) still being maintained. A regular hourly service is now provided although the projection of a couple of peak journeys through to Harrow has ceased. The main Monday to Friday daytime service is now half hourly and a Saturday service was added in 2005.

Loadings on the 614 evidently justify double deckers, in what had previously been an all-single deck fleet. The first vehicles appeared in 2003 with two DAFs, one bodied by each of the two least common makes Optare and East Lancs. The peak vehicle requirement increase in 2005 necessitated additional vehicles however, and in September 2005 three Scania N94UD/East Lancs OmniDekka arrived, painted in a controversial[citation needed]pink and purple livery that replaced the previous white and black.

Stops may be used as terminal stops, whereby a route starts or finishes at that stop. Certain stops may be designated set-down only for some or all routes. Other services may use the same stop as through services. Fare stages may also be defined by the location of certain stops in distance or zone based fare collection systems.

Bus rapid transit takes part of its name from rapid transit which describes a high-capacity rail transport system with its own right-of-way, its alignment often being elevated or running in tunnels, and typically running long trains at short headways of a few minutes.

Because of the name similarity one tends to associate the merits of rapid transit also with the newer BRT expression. BRT encompasses a broad variety of modes, including those known or formerly known as express buses, limited busways and rapid busways and even BHNS in France (BusHaut Niveau de Service).